Mexico, 2025, 73′
In Mandarin, English, and Spanish with Slovenian and English subtitles

Directed by: Aria Covamonas
Written by: Aria Covamonas
Editing: Aria Covamonas
Sound Design: Aria Covamonas
Producers: Lucia Cavalchini, Camilla Uboldi
Production: Fedora Productions

A chaotic tale woven together by a cosmic animator tasked with making an “educational philosophical film” after committing an unknown crime, The Great History of Western Philosophy features Chairman Mao, Socrates, Mickey Mouse, Monkey King, Kant, to name just a few. Before our eyes unfolds an eclectic animated adventure through and around Western and Eastern philosophy, mythology, art history, pop culture and stream-of-consciousness dream states – do not try and make sense of it, just enjoy the wild ride!

Direction/Production Notes

This movie is an imaginary machine that is modeled after the mechanics that propel the unconscious human mind, and therefore it could have been about anything but it happens to be about this: chairman Mao Zedong fancied one day to make a Western movie, you know, with the cowboys and the shootings and the never reading books about philosophy at all, but he doesn’t know how to make such a thing because he is a moron with no talent at all, so it came upon the animator to fulfill his wishes, but this specific animator happens to be so sad that right at the start they gave up and for their failure they were sentenced to death by firing squad. But who is animating who, one wonders, and mister Mao was banished from the movie and betrayed by the last of his comrades, Monkey and Pigsy from Journey to the West, who want above all to see the movie through and will convince the animator to go on telling the story.

The producers of this movie, the Politburo Central Committee of the Peoples’s Republic, want to apologize for the bourgeoise and decadent nonsense the public had to put up with until now. Be relieved that the animator, that enemy of the Revolution, has been banished from the movie and the world. Mao himself will direct the rest of the movie and with the help of a brain scientist we will watch the wonders and miracles as extracted directly from his great brain. We are being literal, the brain of Mao will be extracted and then itself direct, animate and perform the rest of the movie. Good night.

Awards and festivals (selection):

– Contrechamp Award Nominee, Annecy IAFF 2025
– New Visions Award Nominee, Sitges IFF 2025
– Tiger Award Nominee, Rotterdam IFF 2025
– official selection, Guadalajara IFF 2025
– official selection, DOK Lepzig 2025